Convicted!

Technology convicted me this weekend

Yesterday was our first day out with a new SatNav. The deep Russell Crowe Aussie voice is calming and reassuring (particularly for the female ears).

 But my first try-out revealed rather more about my stubbornness and independence than I had intended to divulge. Ironically, it was the words I spoke to my wife – out of my own mouth! – that brought about my own conviction.

 Reaction one – “please turn off the verbal directions”

 Being told what to do by someone else – even an electronic voice – was irritating. I preferred observing the Satnav screen and making my own way. As I journey through reading the Bible in a year I recently reread the bizarre story of Balaam and his donkey. That stubborn old mule – Balaam – failed to heed the words of the Lord and needed rebuking by his donkey:

 The angel of the LORD asked {Balaam}, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her.” (Num 22:32-33)

 Finally, Balaam gets the message and confesses his sin for failing to hear the voice of the angel of the Lord.

 What are you like at asking for, and then heeding, directions? God has given us His Word and His Spirit to instruct and to guide us. I must not turn the volume down or allow it to be drowned out by the hullabaloo of modern living. Pump up the volume (particularly when your instinct is to do the opposite!)

 

 Reaction two – “please turn off the speeding notifications”

 The Satnav reminders were convicting and uncomfortable. But rather than ensuring that I always drove within the law, my conscience felt more comfortable when the notifications were turned off. We do the same thing in the spiritual realm, don’t we?

 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at their face in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, goes away and immediately forgets what they look like. (James 1:23-24)

 The warnings of the bible are there for our own good and failing to heed them is to self-inflict harm. Talking back to the Satnav helps no one!

 

 A better way – “Be wise; Be warned; take heed; listen; have ears to hear….”

 The bible has a lot to say about, first hearing and then, heeding God’s word.

My driving experience yesterday reminded me of the need to be less stubborn and to be better at listening: first to the words from my own my which convict me; then, secondly, to the voice of Scripture.

 I’m still not sure I am going to turn up the sound on my SatNav, but I will renew my pledge to hear and heed God’s voice, something which God strongly encourages:

 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.  Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. (Psalm 32:8f.)

Preparing for suffering with the help of Job

Job 6 – “When words are like wind”

 In “Blue like jazz” Donald Miller wrote that he did not like Jazz because it didn’t resolve. He didn’t like God for the same reason.

Job helps to answer the question: what do you do with the unresolved, and how do you love God when life doesn’t make sense?

Miller argues that he eventually learned to love Jazz when he heard a street saxophonist “playing his heart out”, utterly absorbed in the music. When you love God you learn to live with the unresolved. Job helps us feel the heart of God.

Job is a complex and detailed book. The following four points are intended as an introduction to the long exchange between Job and his three so-called friends.

1. The value of Job

“If I did not have Job! It is impossible to describe all the shades of meaning and how manifold the meaning is that he has for me. I do not read him as one reads another book, with the eyes, but I lay the book, as it were, on my heart and read it with the eyes of the heart… just as the child puts his schoolbook under his pillow to make sure he has not forgotten his lesson when he wakes up in the morning, so I take the book to bed with me at night. Every word by him is food and clothing and healing for my wretched soul. Now a word by him arouses me from my lethargy and awakens new restlessness; now it calms the sterile raging within me, stops the dreadfulness in the mute nausea of my passion. Have you really read Job?” (Soren Kierkegaard in Repetition ).

Kierkegaard encourages a deep absorption into Job in order that we might be immersed in the “melodic line” of the book and find our dependence on a God who knows what he is doing, even in spite of appearances to the contrary.

2.  The unhelpful role of his friends

As some have observed, perhaps their most useful contribution was when they wept with their suffering friend and said nothing. Unfortunately, they broke their silence all-too-soon! (2:13). Not everything they said was wrong, in fact, someone once remarked that they spoke “the right words at the wrong time”.

For example, Eliphaz

-        4:7 – do the innocent really suffer? Have you examined your heart?

-        4:17 – you are presumptuous to think that you are “right with God”

-        5:9ff – God is so much greater than you, so don’t question his plans

-        5:17ff – God sends suffering to discipline and correct us

-        5:27 -  He is confident that “he has the mind of God” …

• How easy it is for “friends” to presume to know definitively what God intends to teach in this or that circumstance…

 

3.  Job as a model of innocent suffering (6:1ff)

Job’s responses are helpful

-        6:2f – My suffering is very real (“if it could be weighed”)

-        6:4 – but my suffering drives me To him not from him

-        6:8-10  – heaven would be more preferable to suffering on earth (Phil 1:21)

-        6:14-20 – The comment attributed to Teresa of Avila “God, if this is how you treat your friends, have you no wonder you have so few of them?!”

• Job hasn’t gone that far — he finds himself comforted by God’s consistency, but deeply troubled by his so called friends    
• Undependable (v15) – like overflowing streams, thawing ice
• And like caravans which have gone of course 9v18ff)
• They are confident that they are going in the right direction,  but in fact they are way off track
• V24ff. Look, I’m not saying this because I am unteachable…but your arguments are not convincing (namely that I must have sinned; and that is why I suffer)
• V28ff. You are judging me, but won’t look me in the eye; you believe you know my heart and my integrity
• V30 But, in fact, I am suffering innocently — I have not spoken wickedly not been malicious to anyone. Cf v10 “I have not denied the words of the Holy One”

-        Consistently throughout Job, he is held up as a model of one who – though he suffers greatly – he is innocent.

 

4.  Job points us to Christ

 1.      Jesus denied a simply link between sin and suffering

 John 9:1ff – “who sinned that this man is suffering?”

• Jesus’ answer implies
• There is a connection between sin and suffering, but it is not simplistic;
• There is an answer to suffering but that too is not simplistic

 2. Jesus taught: We are blessed when we suffer unfairly or unjustly (Mtt 5:10-12)

 3. Jesus is the sinless suffering par excellence (1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:13-18) … and unlike Job, his suffering deals with the very problem of sin and suffering

It is sometimes said: “Suffering makes you bitter or better”.  The way you react to suffering depends on your prior commitment to trust God in whatever circumstances he brings your way. A deep engagement with Job and his sufferings will help the Christian prepare for the trial, testing and difficulties of life.

Existential Threats

Cambridge University have announced the foundation of a new Centre for the study of Existential Risk.

Its purpose? To consider the threats posed by four main areas:-

• Climate Change;
• Artificial Intelligence;
• Nuclear War;
• Rogue Biotechnology

The centre is to be led by professor of philosophy, Huw Price, a professor of cosmology and astrophysics, Martin Rees, and Jann Tallinn, the creator of Skype.

Apocalyptic disaster from nuclear fallout has long been thought to be a real threat. We are increasingly aware of the impact of climate change and aware that advanced biological or germ warfare could wipe out large numbers of the human civilisation.

Media coverage of the launch of this centre has focused on the advances in Artificial, or Super Intelligence, which raises the potential that “we are not the smartest things around” and, it is posited, could potentially threaten human survival.

These are real concerns. Somewhere beneath the Blockbuster movie hype is buried a genuine anxiety that humanity could well destroy itself. 25years ago Neil Postman’s perceptive book “Amusing Ourselves to Death” elicited one commendation “This comes along at exactly the right moment…we must confront the challenge of his prophetic vision”.

Postman argued that 1984 had come and gone. George Orwell’s book of that name feared the banning of books and the imposition of totalitarian oppression, reducing human beings to a mindless existence. But the world of 1984 was free from many of Orwell’s imagined threats. Aldous Huxley was more prophetic, though, in “Brave New World”. Here the threat is the trivialisation of culture, the preoccupation with image and feelings and the drowning out of truth in a sea of irrelevance. The threats which Huxley imagined could much more easily be implemented through artificial intelligence and out-of control biological forces.

But, Christians maintain, the existential threats to our existence pale into insignificance when you consider what a dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).

As the Church approaches the season of Advent we prepare ourselves for Christmas. Not, in fact, by thinking first of Christ’s coming as a baby in the incarnation. But rather, we think his return as judge and king. When we ponder a final day of judgment we approach Christmas to welcome the saviour with open arms.

It might be that, as in the days of Noah, God will use natural means to execute the destruction of the world. But, nevertheless, the controlling initiative comes from outside of our world. Ultimately we will not destroy ourselves, but God will come back to wrap everything up: it will be a day of final destruction, initiated by the Judge of all the earth (see 2 Peter 3).

So, in the, we might say, the threats to the end of the world are more apocalyptic than existential. I wonder, will our Cambridge professors give my thought to this threat?

 

Some biblical wisdom on dealing with Stress and Worry

These thoughts have been going through my mind as I work on my forthcoming book on Stress!

What is quite clear is that everyone seems stressed; everyone worries (at least in the western world). And, because Christians are not exempt they are also tend to add “guilt” to the list, assuming that believing in a sovereign, loving God should mean that we don’t worry and don’t feel stress.

We cannot expect perfection in this life. Moreover, we live in an overstretched world; consequently we often feel close to breaking point. Of course, the Bible has plenty to say about how to live a life trusting God and with an expectation that God will supply all that we need in Christ (e.g. Phil 4:19- “… my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”). But how can we put this into practice?

As I have continued to ponder this issue, two dominant themes from early days as a Christian have returned to me. In my teens I attended a large Sunday night youth group. I remember a talk which I gave entitled:-

God wants warriors not worriers

The theme was that we dissipate worry by getting to work fighting for the cause of the Gospel. It’s not bad advice, of course.  But, again, I ask: how does this work in practice? If you tell a worrier not to worry then you add to their worries their own anxiety over worry itself!

When Jesus told his disciples “Do not worry” (Matthew 6:25) He spoke about the futility of worry (you won’t live any longer by worrying – actually it is likely to have the opposite result!); He said: you need not worry because your heavenly father looks after the lilies and the birds, so how much more will he look after human disciples; and He encouraged a God-directed focus so as not to be preoccupied with the affairs of this world. “Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness…” (v33).

My other regular teenage activity was night fishing. After several hours peering into the water, imagining my float was about to go under, ever expectant of hauling another fish out the water, exhausted, I finally went to bed. But then sleep was elusive as my mind was swimming with the sight of fish swirling around my mind!

Worry causes sleeplessness, of course. Not least because the mind is filled with all the activities and stresses of the day, swimming around the mind!

Part of the answer to sleeplessness is the redirection of one’s gaze. Christian meditation is not about emptying the mind, but rather filling it with thoughts of God. Telling a worrier not to worry doesn’t help. But assisting them focus on the God who won’t give us up and won’t let us down, is the perfect displacement.

This leads me to a related thought which also came from my teenage youth group.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

We used to end every Sunday evening singing the same song:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

These were good thoughts: staying focussed on Jesus does put this world properly into perspective. This is consistent with the advice we find in the Bible: “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

More on this anon, but before I finish writing my own book on the matter, you might like to check out two helpful recent IVP books on these matters:

* The Worry Book. Finding a path to freedom (Will can der Hart & Rob Waller); and

* You can Change. God’s transforming      power for our sinful behaviour and negative emotions (Tim Chester).

The Hunger Games – Christian Review

Hunger Games – Review

 The much hyped movie “The Hunger Games” (2012) is based on the 2008 book by Suzanne Collins. My 15 year-old’s verdict is: “BEST FILM EVER!”

 The 76^th Annual Hunger games are, we are led to believe, the entertainment of the future. Here is game show hype with ultimate risks and rewards. Katniss Everdeen takes her young sister’s place and competes against other randomly selected contestants from other districts. Included among the contestants is also Peeta Mellark who will also compete for her affections. Most of this can be gleaned from the back of the DVD, but if you really want to spoil the plot for you why not read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games_(film)?

 There are some reminiscences of Jim Carrey in “The Truman Show” (1998) which also featured a game show contestant who found his world manipulated from the outside in order to keep up ratings.

 Christian bloggers have emphasised the themes of self-sacrifice and found echoes of cosmic battles and apocalyptic overtones. Whilst the author of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, is a Roman Catholic she is on record indicating that there are no intended Christian themes in the book. This Christian content review is worth reading (http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/protecting_your_family/book-reviews/h/hunger-games.aspx).

 There is much that can be said about this movie. It is a sensual (and refreshing relatively non-sexual) movie which should be just enjoyed!

 My main reflection as a preacher and evangelistically minded pastor is the vision of the future contained in this movie.

 The expectation of conflict and a final battle it seems is inherent in our human imaginings of the future.

 There is realism in this plot, though. The future envisioned by the author is no utopia. It carefully observes the fallen human desire for constant entertainment and titillation, and the gentle mocking over the ends to which game show contestants will go for fame and fortune. There are outside forces bringing influence to the outcome of the games, but ultimately the cynical producers and fickle audience are not, apparently, able to destroy the heroism and sacrifice of the individual.

 The future, apparently, is not the utopia which made up the theme of so many Hollywood movies of previous generation. Rather, despite the entertainment-orientation and cynicism of the audience, the power which makes the world of “The Hunger Games” go round is that self-determined love. There is an ideal, not of utopia, but the power romantic love.

 This is a clever film, based on a well conceived book. It also reflects the modern age: true love is found, not in God, but rather is an ever elusive human-romantic love: an ideal for which even the most cynical person longs.  But the Christian will want to say: this is too hope to much of any human love. Romantic love needs to be subservient to agape love and, for me, movies such as The Hunger Games actually make me marvel afresh at being loved sacrificially, fully and savingly in the Father, Son and Spirit. The greatest demonstration of self-sacricial love is in the PAST not in the FUTURE. As Paul says: Galatians 2:20 “…I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Wouldn’t you like to be a castaway?

I watched it again for fun, but it is quite a telling perspective on how we “long for paradise” and wish we could escape stress. This is the subject of my current book writing project.

Re-posted 2000 blog post, see below

Castaway – A film Review

 This is an unexpectedly enjoyable film.

Tom Hanks deserves an Oscar for carrying the script almost single-handedly.   He plays an ambitious Federal Express Agent jetting round the world chivvying the boys at international depots to perform their best.  His drivenness is having disastrous consequences in his personal life, though.  Just before he is marooned on a beautiful paradise island he seems to make a promise that he will return to ‘do right by that girl’!

When we meet him, the biggest disaster he could envisage would be his Palm Pilot crashing!  But, as the title of the movie hints, it’s a lot more than that that comes crashing to the ground.

When the Fed Ex plane goes down in the Pacific Ocean (and quite dramatically portrayed on the big screen) we find Hanks struggling to make his way to a beautiful sun-drenched, palm-lined shore.  Some of his colleagues wash up dead on the beach along with other apparently useless bits of cargo which never make their destination.  Of course all come in handy, even the ice skates!

As I said, Hanks makes the film stay very much alive as we share with him in his fear, isolation, resignation and determination.  The filming is very well done and apparently all the sound was recorded in the studio afterwards.

In case you haven’t seen it I won’t tell you about the eventual escape and what happens on his return!   Well, you knew he was going to escape eventually didn’t you!

However, there are a couple of themes which resonate very well, I think.

First, like most of the audience I’m sure, I sat there thinking: ‘Wow!   I could manage a few months marooned there – no phone, no traffic, no email, no palm pilot’!!  I have recently written elsewhere about the human longing for Paradise.  Ever since we were first kicked out of the Garden (in Genesis 3) human kind has longed for intimate re-engagement with God’s beautiful creation.   But as Hanks soon finds out, life is tough there and far from being an escape, he longs for human company.

Secondly, this film reminded me of how attached we get to the routine and ritual of our western way of life.   When all the things we think we can’t do without are taken away from us, we survive!  Hanks finds himself reflecting on human relationships which have gone wrong.  And, though not really portrayed in the film, surely it is also a time to come face to face with who we really are in the sight of God.  When everything else is stripped away from us what is it like to be spiritually naked before the Almighty?

Well, it is all a bit corny!  But there is some good stuff in this film.  It also reminded me afresh that Paradise will not be found until heaven!  I hope it won’t take a shipwreck before we wake up to that!

Lessons from the Long Distance Cycle Ride

Lessons from the long distance cycle ride

 As team GB secure the first silver medal of the Olympics in the women’s cycling road race, I was reflecting on my recent (and more modest) cycle ride: 300 miles over Cumbria and Northumbria covering East Coast to West Coast of England.

 I rode with a friend, in blustery but not unpleasant, conditions, during the last week of July. By all accounts ours was a less arduous affair than the 150 mile single day Olympic event. Nevertheless: mental and physical fitness is required if one is to complete the task.

 A few key lessons from long distance cycling have occurred to me which translate into the summons to long-distance discipleship:

 Pack light

 It is something of an art to pack two panniers with everything needed for all conditions over 6 nights. Judicious selection of clothes and jettisoning anything unnecessary is essential.

 Long distance discipleship requires “travelling light”. The Bible’s advice is:

“…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  (Hebrews 12:1). For that reason we should confess our sin daily and look to our marvellous saviour as if today was the first day and the final day in which we believe.

 Wear the gear

 I think that it would be fair to say that Lycra is not a fashion item! The extra padding (in the posterior) and protective and streamlined clothes are essential for the long distance cyclist.

 Of course, we realise that we should “put on the full armour of God” (Ephesians 6:10ff.) in order to engage in the fight for the faith.  But I am also reminded that once Jesus had exorcised the demon from a man, the crowd noted that he was sitting at Jesus’ feet “dressed and in his right mind” (Mark 5:15). I guess this is one of the outward evidences of “putting on the new self” (Col 3:9ff); becoming more Christ-like.

 Fuel up

 Cycling 60-70 miles per day over hilly terrain meant that we burnt more than 5,000 calories.  It is not quite enough to replace that with 20 Mars bars! We tried to balance protein, carbohydrates, sugar and salt to maximise energy over the long day, and not just find quick sugar fixes.

 The obvious analogy is the need to keep feeding on God in order to be sustained in the Christian life. Jesus is both the “bread of heaven” and the one who promises the Holy Spirit – “streams of living water flowing from within” (John 6; John 4, 7). We should eat and drink for our daily sustenance.

 Find friendly support

 One of the tremendous benefits of this ride was to use it to connect with friends along the way and enjoy their generous hospitality as well as be encouraged by them.

 Studying the “one another” words in Romans 12-14 and Hebrews 10 reveals how much we need other Christians and how much other Christians need us. It is in the body of Christ that we learn to love, we learn to bear one another’s burdens, we learn to teach and to learn, and we begin to appreciate the connectedness which comes through the benefit of being united in Christ.

 Go the distance

 I’m not a good sprinter.  I don’t have the lungs or legs for it!  I am better on the long haul. We are similarly reminded that the Christian life is not a sprint; rather it is “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” (as Eugene Peterson has memorably called it).  The writer to the Hebrews expressed a similar sentiment:

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1-4)

 Finally,

 Look up and take in the view

As we panted up some of the Lake District climbs it was so easy to focus on nothing other than the track in front of us.  It took a concerted effort not to miss the glorious hills!  And, of course, what goes up invariably does come down, and some of those swift 40mph descents were great!

The psalmist regularly looked to the hills (the Psalms of Ascent). Sometimes because it was from there that he anticipated help from their maker (e.g. Psalm 121); sometimes it was to look for mercy (e.g. Psalm 123); but mainly it was to make himself consider the greatness of his and their maker (e.g. Psalm 125)

The long distance cycle ride is both exhausting but, in an odd way, also refreshing.

Christian endurance may be helped by physical and mental stamina, but spiritual fitness comes first. I hope that you will be encouraged to: pack light, wear the gear, fuel up, find friendly support, go the distance and look up and take in the view, so that we both might be able to say with Paul:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.  (2 Tim 4:7-8)

What would Jesus do?

There has been some fascinating discussion this past week about the sign WWJD displayed on posters at the Occupy London protest camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral.  The BBC article (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16068178) has also produced quite a lot of subsequent blog comment.

The following comments are taken from “Lives Jesus Changed” (http://www.christianfocus.com/item/show/1310/-) and reflect on why it might be better to ask “What would John do?”

What Would Jesus Do?

In John 1 John the Baptist tells us of two tasks which the Messiah/Christ will perform.

He is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (v29, v37)

It is a staggering claim.  There are at least two possible thoughts in mind here.  In Isaiah 53 we are given a prophecy about a character who will be led like a lamb to the slaughter (v7) and one who would have the iniquity of us all laid upon him (v6b).  Many people see a strong allusion to the servant-messiah who will take away the sins of the world through his saving death.  Is John at least strongly hinting here that finally the servant-messiah figure is among them now?

The Passover celebrations (recorded in Exodus 12) may well be the more likely insinuation which John has in mind.  As a yearly memorial each Jewish household was to recollect God’s rescue fromEgyptby killing a lamb.  This helped them remember the day when God passed over faithful Jewish homes and spared them from God’s wrath, whilst killing the first-born in every Egyptian home.  The blood of the lamb that had been slain then was splattered on the lintels and posts of their front door, showing God that a lamb had died in place of the firstborn.  In that way sin had been atoned for and God passed over them.  Later in the New Testament (see 1 Corinthians 5:7) the Apostle Paul makes a direct link between the death of Jesus on the cross as our sin-bearer and the picture of the Passover lamb.

Whichever of these two pictures is mainly in John the Baptist’s mind, the conclusion is amazing.  Jesus will do what neither John nor any other religious ritual ceremony (water baptism included) can do:  He will take away the sins of the world through His sin-bearing death.  Isn’t that fantastic news?

He is the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit (v33)

The second thing that Jesus alone can do is baptise with the Holy Spirit.  This is the internal work of washing away sin and the new birth that comes to make us true children of God (see v.13, “born of the spirit of God”).  The Christian life begins with baptism.  Not baptism by water (which is merely a symbol, or better, a sacrament), but baptism in the Spirit.  Whilst we constantly need to be filled and refilled with the Holy Spirit as He takes over God’s rightful rule in every part of our life (see Ephesians 5:21ff.), baptism happens once, and it is our Christian beginning (See Acts 1:5, 1 Corinthians 12:13).

This is great news for all people!  Jesus did what we couldn’t do to or for ourselves.  He deals with our guilt and sin on the cross and puts that remedy straight to work at the very heart of our being: our spirit.

WWJD

It has become trendy to wear little badges or bracelets with the four letters WWJD.  The letters stand for “What would Jesus do”.  In any and every situation, to be reminded “What would Jesus do” is quite a challenge to act as he would act.

However, with John the Baptist’s testimony in front of us, I wonder whether that is quite the right question.  At one level of course, Jesus did for us what we could never do for anyone else.  I cannot die to atone for other people’s sin.  And as a local Church minister I often remind parents of children brought for baptism, that all I can do is make their baby’s head wet! Only God can take sin away. Only God can baptise in the Spirit.  At the heart of John’s witness is a humble signpost to Jesus.  John will decrease.  Jesus must increase.

I wonder, then, would it not be as useful to think “What Would John Do?” whenever we see those four letters WWJD.  John’s witness to Jesus is stunning and costly.  He did not fail to speak up nor did he deny he knew Jesus.  He stood before his accusers with a simple testimony: It is not about me, it is all about Him!

It has sometimes been said: if you were arrested for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to bring you to conviction?!

We live in a day and age where the scenario with which I began this chapter is becoming an increasing possibility.  I hope and pray that should that day come, I will think and act like John thought and acted, even if it costs me as much as it cost him.

The all important question is not: “who do you think you are?” but “who do you think He is?” Have you taken John’s own testimony seriously?  What would John do?

King’s Cross by Tim Keller – a review

King’s Cross, by Tim Keller (Hodder & Stoughton 2011)

Reviewed by Simon Vibert

     Tim Keller has been criticised (or complimented) depending on which way you look at it) as being a better speaker than a writer (note the conversation surrounding Reason for God in Newsweek magazine and Tim’s own response http://www.newsweek.com/2008/02/09/the-smart-shepherd.html; http://www.edstetzer.com/2008/02/tim_keller_on_evolution_and_ot.html).  In fact, this criticism does not apply to King’s Cross.  For sure, this book started life as Bible expositions in Mark’s Gospel – and you can “hear” Tim speaking all the way through – but it has been turned into very readable and edifying prose.

 The book received a surprising and insightful boost from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at the July 2011 General Synod meeting inYork:

 The American Presbyterian writer Timothy Keller has recently published a book on Mark’s gospel, entitled King’s Cross.  It is a vividly written and often very moving presentation of the great themes of the gospel (and incidentally offers a forceful defence of substitutionary language for the atonement that might give second thoughts to some who find this difficult); but perhaps its simplest and most dominant insight is that Christianity is not advice but news. (http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2122/archbishop-of-canterburys-presidential-address-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/)

 King’s Cross divides neatly into the two recognisable halves of Mark’s Gospel – Part One: “The King” (Mark 1-10); Part Two: “The Cross” (Mark 11-16).  The book is a combination of winsome apologetical summons and affectionate (in all senses of that word) appeal to everyday human experience.  Chapter titles such as “The Dance”, “The Waiting”, “The Stain”, “The Feast” etc are surprising and enticing titles for a series of Bible talks. He credits CS Lewis as his favourite author (p.6) and it is not hard to see why Tim is often labelled as “a C. S. Lewis for the 21st century, a high-profile Christian apologist who can make orthodox belief not just palatable but necessary.” (Newsweek article).  He tells the Gospel story in a way which resonates with the human quest for a meaningful narrative for life.

 There are other big themes which are part of Tim’s “Gospel-centred” approach to Christian ministry, such as, the chapter “The Rest”.  He shows that Jesus came to earth to bring about the end of Religion as we know it:

 “Righteous” people believe they can “heal themselves,” make themselves right with God by being good and moral.  They don’t feel the need for a soul-physician, someone who intervenes and does what they can’t do themselves…Because the Lord of the Sabbath said, “It is finished,” we can rest from religion – forever. (p47)

 He also interacts with William Vanstone’s interesting book The Phenomenology of Love indicating that we all seek true, unconditional love, but are incapable of giving it.  But, ironically, in meeting Jesus we are enabled to need less and give more.  Why is that?

 If your agenda is the end, then Jesus is just the means; you are using him.  But if Jesus is the King, you cannot make him a means to your end. (p106f.).

 The strong evangelistic/apologetic appeal is evident throughout the book.  Alongside Mere Christianity this is the kind of book which I would give to a thinking non-Christian today.  For example

 [Jesus] is both the rest and the storm, both the victim and the wielder of the flaming sword, and you must accept him or reject him on the basis of both.  Either you’ll have to kill him or you’ll have to crown him.  The one thing you can’t do is just say, “What an interesting guy.”  Those teachers of the law who began to plot to kill Jesus at the end of this episode in the temple – they may have been dead wrong about him, but their reaction makes perfect sense. (p162).

 His death on the cross is simply explained as Jesus drinking the cup of God’s wrath (the poisoned chalice) so that we don’t need to; and as going under the sword, bearing our punishment in our place.

 I join the Archbishop of Canterbury in highly recommending this book.  When Tim comes to Oxford to lead the OICCU mission next year I trust and hope he will do what he has said all preachers need to do, and that which this book exemplifies:

 To be a great preacher, one needs to be tri-perspectival in their exegesis. That is, they need to be committed to the exegesis of the Bible, the exegesis of our culture, and the exegesis of the human heart. Some preachers claim that if you exegete the Bible properly, you don’t need to bother yourself with the exegesis of our culture or the human heart. The problem with this view, however, is that the Bible itself exhorts us to apply Biblical norms to both our lives and to our world… But no preacher has consistently taught me how to do all three in the context of every sermon more so than Tim Keller. His balanced attention to all three forms of exegesis makes him very unique, in my opinion. (http://www.joshharris.com/2008/08/tim_keller.php)

 Note

More on Tim Keller’s preaching in my book Excellence in Preaching published by IVP UK, September 2011.

A Rubicon has been crossed

A Rubicon has been crossed

 As legend has it “crossing the Rubicon” refers to “the point of no return” because once Julius Caesar crossed this shallow river in Northern Italy in 49BC war was inevitable.

A ruling from the High Court in England has in effect declared war on traditional Christian values, the very values which shaped much of the law of our land: the dignity of humankind; the right to hold to private beliefs and express them publicly; and the abiding wisdom of God’s 10 commandments, to name just a few.

Mr and Mrs Johns believe that Christianity teaches that homosexual conduct is wrong.  They believe that this is what the church teaches and they think that this is to be found in the bible.  To teach a foster child in their care that homosexuality was right would be in contradiction of their faith.  As Mrs John’s says: “All we were not willing to do was to tell a small child that the practice of homosexuality was a good thing” (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-12598896).

The high court has ruled that protecting a person from being discriminated because of sexual orientation trumps protecting a person against discrimination because of their religious beliefs.

So now it seems: Christianity is an oppressive and an unhealthy place to bring up foster children.  The downward spiral our society has experienced is-

• Denial of Christian beliefs;
• Loss of Christian behaviour;
• The conviction that Christian beliefs and behaviour are not good but bad for society and even to teach a child Christian morality is harmful to their well being.

A foundational part of equality is the right to hold your own views and not to contravene your own conscience.  But modern England today, like ancient Rome has “exchanged the truth for a lie” (Romans 1:25):

My conscience and common sense dictate that I must continue to say:

1)     That children thrive in heterosexual relationships when brought up by the good role models of a mother and a father who have pledged to stay together for life;

2)     That homosexuality is bad for the body (anatomically), and it fails to recognise genetic and biological differences between men and women;

3)     Ultimately society requires opposite gender sexual intercourse in order to produce children and generally people are still agreed that traditional husband/wife families are good for society.

The dilemma is that if Christians continue to appeal to the Christian values which have shaped not only the Church but our legal system and the foundation of society, then I will be judged by many to be holding to oppressive and inhuman views.

We may feel that we have reached a point of no return.  But we should also bear in mind that our society has not quite yet got to the degenerate state of the Roman Empire (as described in Romans 1).  Paul’s conviction was that the message about Jesus Christ is the power of God for salvation for all believe.  Many have argued that despite Caesar’s great conquests, it was the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which ultimately contributed to the Fall of Rome.  The Rubicon may be crossed but ultimate victory belongs to God.

See more Christian responses to the Mr & Mrs Johns High Court ruling over Foster Care:

Peter Ould on popular reportings of the case misreading the judgement http://www.peter-ould.net/2011/03/01/breaking-christians-with-traditional-moral-views-can-still-be-foster-parents/;

Cramner blog on the challenge of privileging Discrimination laws http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2011/03/laws-and-usages-of-realm-do-not-include.html

Also:

http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/blog/fostercouple;  http://ugleyvicar.blogspot.com/